Ka-Blog!

While waiting for their boarding call at an airport lounge, a Chinese, an American and a Filipino chatted up about the respective state of their country’s finances.

Chinese: Our government is opening up a $600 billion loan facility for the workers of the world to better cope with the financial crisis.

American: You crazy Reds! Why bother with the workers? Our $700 billion bailout plan is for the real money-makers—the multinational corporations.

Filipino: You slowpokes! Our government officials already pocketed P700 million earmarked for farmers!

I know I am being corny here, using the classic Hapon-Amerikano-Filipino joke template that always shows Filipinos getting the better of anyone. Never mind that, in these jokes, we often appear to be the biggest jackasses of all.

There is really nothing funny about the current global financial crisis, of course. I myself am not laughing.  Our family’s livelihood is dependent on foreigners having enough dispensable cash to volunteer with our NGO.  And we are getting less application for 2009.  Belt-tightening, here I come!

What I wish to underscore here though is how different governments deal differently with the impending global meltdown.

The Chinese government, eager to show the world they have not betrayed their Socialist ideology, is saying they wish to help embattled workers worldwide.  I don’t know if they are sincere as it remains to be seen how this amount would eventually be used.  But I like the idea.

The Americans, well, their instinct tells them to save their greedy and grossly-mismanaged giants before anyone else.  Today, I read about how the Big Three car companies (Ford, GM, Chrysler) are asking for $25 billion golden parachute.  It’s like saying, “Hey, thanks for fucking up the global economy.Take this moolah, go yatch-sailing and drink up on Piper Heidsieck!”

The Philippine government?  Well, gma and her officials do not care about the people.In fact, based on their actions, they want us all dead.  They hardly ever care about Pinoy companies either—at least the honest and tax-paying ones.  All they care about is how to line up their pockets.  So we have these stealing and lying phenomena called Joc-joc Bolante and the Euro generals.

And we have all this talk about gma trying to extend her term of terror beyond 2010.  This is not as far-fetched as one may be excused to initially think.  How else should be interpret Juan Ponce Enrile’s shocking rise to the senate presidency (sworn in by Gregorio Honasan, no less?)  I am hard pressed to think of a stranger thing happening with this government.

I feel like crying sometimes.   I am worried to death about this country’s collective future.

But I am not one to commit suicide over these turn of events. Pinoy yata ako. So I turn to our old reliable.In times like these, I try to find humor in the events as they crash around me like fat raindrops under a menacing cloudburst.  I am so desperate to be able to laugh. Pinoy nga ako.

Yes, I try to laugh about these things.  But I am not saying I’m not doing anything about them. Ika nga ni kumpareng Peter Ustinov, “Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.”  I maintain that in this tragedy called the Philippines, there is no business as serious as humor.

Paper delivered before UP Mass Com studes, 10 September 08

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By inviting us to talk about the state of alternative media, you have accorded us the honor of being called part of alternative media.  Coming from future media practitioners, it is a distinct honor.Maraming salamat po.

Allow me first to tell you a bit about Kodao Productions and in the process give you an idea of what an alternative media outfit have to contend with under the present dispensation.

Kodao is a long strip of knotted rattan rope; each knot represents an event that members of the community must attend—meetings, festivals, weddings, and others.  It is a Lumad word and Kodao is an ancient form of calendar.

When progressive filmmakers, broadcasters, writers, journalists and artists (including one National Artist for Literature and one Palanca Award winner) were sure there will be another people power uprising in 2000, they thought of forming a multi-media production outfit to document the people’s participation in another historical event.Remember that factions of the ruling class and the military both claim they made history happen in 1986 the most.  They tried to downplay the vital role played by the progressives in ousting the dictatorship.

And so we were there in 2001, with cheap prosumer cameras which have started to become affordable.This is important.More on this later.  After Edsa Dos, Kodao came out with its first video docu, Oust!

A few weeks later, we were offered free daily airtime on the AM radio station of the so-called people power network.  And Ngayon Na, Bayan! was born.  It was a radio program that advocated transparency and good governance.  It tackled issues not for the sake of commenting on the news and developments.  Rather, it tried to analyze issues from the point of view of the common person.  Of course, it was progressive, or leftist to some.

Kodao Productions’ video docus and its radio programs are alternative in the sense that we produce them not for commercial considerations.  We do not produce so we can have income from advertisements.  That’s one.

Second, we have a different take on issues we tackle.  We feature personalities that can never be called poster boys or girls but whose contributions to nation building are more important than animals called politicians and showbiz personalities—not that we did not and do not feature politicians. Depende lang kung sino sila or kung ano ang papel nila sa isyung pinag-uusapan. So we feature jeepney drivers, people’s lawyers, barrio doctors, development workers, journalists, rebels, laundry persons, human rights workers, churchpeople—mga taong kinaiinisan ng magaling na pamahalaan.  In our radio program, we give each sector and issue a particular episode.  Mondays are about economic issues, Tuesdays are for religion and society, Wednesdays are for women’s issues, Thursdays are for the other basic sectors like the workers and peasants, Fridays for good governance.  This lineup was changed, depending on which grabs the people’s attention the most at the time.

One innovation we pioneered was remote-recording radio program episodes with poor communities.In seaside communities in Southern Tagalog, in a peasant community in Central Luzon, an under-the-bridge community in Taytay, in the middle of a park in Hong Kong, in an urban poor community in Navotas, at Hacienda Luisita right after the massacre in 2005.  We were there.

Not content with what we were already doing, we started giving trainings to our main publics.  We trained out of school youths, factory workers, community women and peasants on videography, broadcasting, writing for radio, newswriting, reporting, photography and others.  We helped one peasant organization put up and operate a community radio station and became one of the most active advocates of community radio broadcasting in the process.

For our video and radio productions, we go to communities and hold sinehang- and radyo-hang bayans.  Because we can not compete with telenovelas in communities with power supply and many TV sets we go to communities where they hardly have television or radio sets.  The reception is always fantastic.

That is why we prefer to be called community journalists/broadcasters/media institutions rather than alternative media.

Kodao is still producing the kind of video docus we have been producing since 2001.  Now, we have a new radio program with kids as on-board broadcasters, reporters, radio drama talents, reporters, and writers.  It is a radio program and drama for kids and by kids, with only a few adults thrown in.  (Kaya Natin ‘To, Kids, DWIZ 882 khz, Saturdays, 4:30 to 5:30 in the afternoon.)  And they are no ordinary children.  All of them come from urban and rural poor communities.  Many of them are out of school—some of them are hardly literate but all are intelligent.  A few of them are victims of physical abuse, domestic violence, state terrorism, child pornography and prostitution, and rape and incest.

We like to believe we were good at it.  We’ve won awards from the KBP, the CMMA and the Cultural Center of the Philippines for both our radio and video productions, even our historical radio dramas.  In fact, Ngayon Na, Bayan! was finalist in the CMMA for five straight years.Our videos were featured in video docu festivals here and abroad.

We also would like to believe we are effective.  When this sitting president illegally declared a state of national emergency, Ngayon Na, Bayan! was the first media casualty.  We were told not to show up at the radio station within two hours of its announcement.  Subsequently, we were among those charged with rebellion, along with 55 other personalities.  The government’s hooded witness even claimed in his affidavit that we were the Communist Party of the Philippines’ propaganda arm.He said he knew this because he joined Kodao in 1989. E 2001 lang kami pormal na nabuo.Magaling, di ba?

Then the community radio station we helped build and operate was attacked and burned to the ground on July 2, 2006.  Six staff members, out of school youths and peasants, were beaten up, hogtied, blindfolded and terrorized.  The police and the fire department did not respond until nine hours later even when they are both just a stone’s throw away.  Two presidents and several officers of the peasant organization that owned the station were killed one after the other.  We suspect the military to be the only perpetrator, because they’ve harassed them so many times before.  Besides, even if the military are innocent, what kind of government allows such things to happen and go unpunished?

These harassments are not exclusive to members of the so-called alternative media, of course.  This also happens to members of the so-called mainstream media.

Now, on to other things which make us “alternative”.  Earlier, I mentioned about affordable cameras, digital audio recorders, and canned sound effects on CDs and from the internet, plus computer software that make video and audio editing within reach of groups that do not depend on big money from the advertisers for equipment and production and distribution costs.  I am sure you know that cheaper equipment and great advancements in information technology brought about the phenomenon called citizen journalism.  On the internet, we can upload our productions for an even wider audience.  This is the development which made it possible for groups like Kodao to go into this line of work full time. Ganito rin sa digital cinema, di ba? And I think that even the so-called mainstream media recognizes this.  Now, there is a marriage of sorts as the big networks are asking people to contribute reports with the use of consumer cameras, even mobile phones.CNN has its I-report, ABS-CBN News has its citizen patrol. Traffic situationers are broadcast through 3G mobile phones.

To end this, let me underscore three things:

1. There are so many people, sectors, interests, issues that are underserved by the so-called commercial media because of their editorial limitations that are dictated by their advertisers.  These are the things that compel us to be.

1. To be a media practitioner under a regime like this is very difficult; to be a community media practitioner under a regime like this is dangerous to one’s health.

1. Nevertheless, it is very fulfilling and highly recommended.

The following is a rather long response to an ongoing egroup debate with a fucking US marine.  Won’t bore you with what he wrote at first that started all this.  Kumpleto na naman yata ang sagot ko.

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Dear Marine:

Teeeeennn-HUTTT!

Hindi naman ako nag-react dahil ang tingin ko ay mali ang ilan sa mga sinulat mo tungkol sa Bling-jing Olympics–yung batang itinago, yung polusyon, yung hrv, atbp.  Tama nga e.  Nalungkot nga ako para dun sa batang may boses.

Nagimbal lang ako dahil sa sobrang asim ng mga salitang ginamit mo.  Kaya naman nabansagang basura ang iyong pyesa at ikaw ay bigot (Ano nga ang Filipino ng ‘bigot’?  ‘Ungas’ yata, pero not sure.)  dahil yun naman talaga ang arrive mo.  Matindi ang malisya mo laban sa mga Intsik. Tuldok!

Okey, sige. Pagbigyan.  Manunulat ka kamo.  “Dawner”.   Section ed at ilang terms as Assoc.  Waw!  Bigatin!  Istilo mo kamo ang ganyang paraan ng pagsusulat.  (Boss Presto!  Pareng Jon!  Nikki Girl?  Tibor Joshua! Kilala niyo ba ito?  Puro kasi Dawn EIC lang ang kaibigan ko e.)  Sundalong Kano ka pa.  E kailan mo naman kami patitikimin ng ganitong klaseng sinigang laban sa hinayupak na US armed forces?  Alam mo ba naman na higit ang kasalanan ninyo sa buong mundo laban sa karapatang tao?  Tandaan mo, at dapat alam mo ito dahil dati ka namang naging Pinoy, na bente porsyento ng nabubuhay na Pilipino ang pinatay ng mga Kano noong 1899 hanggang matapos ang gyerang agresyon nila laban sa bagong tatag na Republika ng Pilipinas.  Bigyan na kita ng sunod mong susulatin.  Isulat mo nga para sa aming kabatiran kung humingi na ng tawad ng pamahalaang EU sa genocidal war na ito laban sa amin.

Mayroon ka pa yatang nabanggit na kasalanan ng Tsina laban sa Tibet.  May tama ka!  May HRV nga dun.  E paano naman ang pamimigay ng EU sa Malaysia ng North Borneo na bahagi ng ancestral domain ng sambayanang Moro na dapat sana ay bahagi ngayon ng Pilipinas?  O paghahati ng EU at ng dating USSR sa peninsulang Koreano matapos ang malaking gera?  O ang genocidal war ng EU laban sa mga unang nasyon ng Norte Amerika (American Indians ang tawag niyo sa kanila, di ba?)  Kumusta naman?

Mapunta tayo sa polusyon.  Alam mo ba naman na ang nangungunang polluter sa buong mundo magpasahanggang ngayon ay ang EU?

At hindi ba, nagdadala pa kayo ng mga barkong de-nukleyar sa Pilipinas kahit bawal ito sa aming Konstitusyon?  Hindi pa rin nalilinis ang toxic wastes mula sa mga dating base militar ng EU sa Angeles at Olongapo.  Tama!  Lalanghapin nating lahat ang polusyong buga ng mga Intsik ngayon.  Paano naman ang polusyong mas masahol na nasinghot na namin galing sa mga Kano?  Ang dami ng mga batang may leukemia sa Angeles ha!

(Teka, bakit nga napunta sa mga Kano ang usapan?  Aaahhh.  Ipinagmalaki mo nga pala na ganun ka na!)

Ngayon naman sa Olympics.  Kung sundalong Kano ka, hindi ba dapat ay suportado mo ang opisyal na tindig ng iyong gubyerno hinggil sa Olimpiada sa Beijing?  Nagpadala ang EU ng napakaraming atleta.  Humakot ng maraming medalya ang EU sa Beijing. Tinanggap ng sambayanang Tsino ang mga atletang Kano–ang Redeem Team, si Phelps, atbp.

Naku!  Muntik ko nang makalimutan!  Di ba pumunta rin doon ang magaling niyong presidenteng si Dubya?  E kung pumunta ang iyong matalinong commander in chief, e di para niya na ring bitbit ang suporta ng buong gubyernong EU sa Olimpiada sa Beijing?  Anong ginagawa ng isang Marine na tulad mong bumakbak ng todo sa isang pangyayaring buong giliw na sinuportahan ng iyong mahusay na gubyerno?  At kumusta naman ang bilyon-bilyong kinita ng Cola-Cola, McDonalds, Pepsi, IBM, HP, Microsoft, Nike, Speedo at iba ang American giants mula sa pinaghirapang ihandang Olimpiada sa Beijing? Hhmmmm….2,000 push-ups, your face in the mud, dumb Marine!

A, pero pwede mo namang sabihing wala ka namang sinulat laban sa iyong gubyerno, di ba?  Laban lang sa mga Tsino.  E kung ganun, banlag ka siguro–tumititig sa kaliwa habang papalayo naman ang tingin sa kanan.

Di yun insulto, Marine.  Istilo ko lang.  Di ko pa naman kita ang larawan mo.  Baka naman mas maganda ka ngang lalaki sa akin, pero yun nama’y hindi ko kailanman aaminin.

Maniniwala ako sa iyo kung pupunta ka sa Capitol Hill (o kahit man lang sa Washington Post o Sports Illustrated) na dapat isauli nina Kobe, Mike, LeBron, atbp ang lahat ng kanilang medalya.  O kahit magsulat ka lang laban sa partisipasyon ninyo sa Bling-jing.  Pinatugtog na ang Star-Spangled [and Blood-Spattered Banner] sa Tsina, nagpapakipot ka pa?  At bakit?  Kasi, kamo, matindi ang polusyon sa Beijing at hindi nila pinakita sa TV yung batang baliko ang ipin?

Payo lang, Marine.  Huwag na naman kayong pumasok sa Iran.  Nakakarami na kayo ng olats–Mindanao, Cordillera, Samar, Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq.  Wala nang takot masyado sa mga Kano.  Mas marami nang tumitindig at lumalaban laban sa imperyalismo ninyo.  Mas marami man kayong napapatay, hindi naman kayo maunawaan kung bakit kayo sobrang pakialamero ng sarili ninyong mamamayan.  Kami, alam namin kung bakit kayo masyadong ma-epal at pasaway.  Kasi, kung wala kayong sinasakop, maghihirap pa kayo sa daga. (Kung hindi mo pa ito ma-gets, itatatwa ka na ng UE.)

Sa totoo lang, nauunawaan ko kung bakit ka andiyan at nag-sundalo.

Kelangan mo ng pera, di ba?  (Ako rin nga e!  Kaso, hindi ako kailanman maglilimpiya-bota sa isang katihang mapang-api.)  Kaya lang, ‘wag ka namang masyadong-OA.  (Mas Kanoka pa sa mga readers ng Fox Redneck News e.  Pinabili ka lang ng suka e, akala mo spokesperson ka na ng US State Department.)  May tiyo nga akong naging chief ng attack submarines at boomers e.  Pero hindi ko siya naringgang mang-alipusta ng mga nakalaban nilang mga navy kahit minsan.  Gentleman in uniform lang siguro ang tiyo ko.

Sa sunod na madalaw ka rito sa mahirap naming bansa, gusto ko sanang makita kung gaano kagaling sa barilan ang mga US marines ngayon.  Bakit ba hindi kayo maka-dama sa Iraq?  Perdigana yata ang alam na laro ni Betray-us doon e.  Pero sa airsoft lang ha.  Isport lang.  Pampapawis at pambawas bilbil.  Pero kung tapang-tapangan ka talaga (”trust me. youll KNOW when i get mad.” and all that shit), dun ka sa teritoryo ng MILF magpadestino.  Ano ba naman ang dagdag na isang sundalong Kano doon, e marami na naman ang naroon?  Ang problema mo lang, hindi kayo uurungan.

O siya.  Baka may white officer ka pa diyan na magpapatimpla ng kape sa iyo.  Baka nailalayo na kita masyado sa Marine-issue mong takure.

Lubos na gumagalang,

Bukaneg
-SPVIAN eic ’86-‘87
-The Bedan eic ‘91-’92
-The Spires eic ‘92
-Kule contributor ‘94-’95
-The National Guilder editor ‘93-’94
-VP for Luzon, CEGP ‘94-’96 (Concurrent NCR chapter chair)
-Teachers’ rights worker ‘96 to ‘04
-PIO, Human Rights Monitoring Committee, GRP-NDF JMC ‘04-’05
-Co-host of award-winning radio program on HR and other issues
-Writer/Cameraperson for HR video docus ‘05 to present
-Writer, editor, director, talent, producer of a weekly radio program for
chilren’s rights July ‘08-present
-Freelance journalist/photog
-Development worker
-Never a soldier for a foreign country
-Pinoy

Inquirer’s editorial cartoon today (August 7) is an outrage. Consisting of two panels and drawn by one GL Daroy, it pictures the Moro Islamic Liberation front as a glutton who gobbled up the pie that’s Mindanao—save for a sliver. It even insinuates that the group is also interested in the rest of the country.

How can something be so patently ignorant, inflammatory, unjust and, given the fact that the crux of the issue is ancestral rights, racist be allowed to see print?

The way I see it, the Inquirer, specifically its cartoonist, has got everything backwards. How so?

First, Muslim Mindanao was taken away from the Bangsa Moro. They were kingdoms of Islamic peoples before there was even a Republic of the Philippines.

Second, they never surrendered their patrimony to the Spaniards, British, American and Japanese invaders. They’ve shed blood since the time of Sultan Kudarat to defend it.

They were never properly consulted when the Republic of the Philippines was created, which eventually included the Bangsa Moro homeland.

They were never consulted by the British and American imperialists when Sabah (North Borneo) was conveniently ceded to Malaysia at the end of the Second World War. This despite the fact that Sabah was given to the Sultan of Sulu by the Sultan of Brunei nearly a century and half ago and despite the admission of the government of Malaysia and the British companies that they still pay rent to the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu.

Lastly, to say that that the Bangsa Moro peoples are justified to fight for the right to self-determination is an understatement. The Manila government is only mostly present in Mindanao through the mercenary Armed Forces of the Philippines acting as private armies of multinational agricultural and mining companies. The Manila government spends more buying bullets to kill more Moros than buying books for the Moro kids. That’s a fact.

No, the MILF and even the Moro National Liberation Front is not the glutton here. Imperialist foreign governments and their rapacious capitalists through the puppet Philippine government are the land-grabbers.

Remember who first settled those areas of Mindanao and have made those their homeland. Remember also who benefits from all the riches of Mindanao now.

By these alone, injustices already abound. At the very least then, we should all think of the Bangsa Moro’s uprisings as a justified way of getting their homeland back.

Now, I don’t know if the fears being expressed by many politicians are justified—that the Memorandum of Agreement initialed yesterday in Malaysia allows for the creation of a new and separate sovereign state within the territorial boundaries of the Philippines. But who did it first in the case of Sabah?  And do we blame the MILF or the Government of the Republic of the Philippines for agreeing to those purported terms? Remember that on the negotiating table, the GRP was the state and the MILF was the belligerent force. The former was supposed to be negotiating on a position of strength and the latter was the dehado. Kaya nga problematic ang cartoon ng Inquirer e. Sobrang bobo naman niyan!

Like most Filipinos I hurt at the thought of my beloved country being cut up like a Chicago deep dish pizza and offered to just about every salivating mouth gaping wide for a big bite. But historical facts are all there to see. Hindi ang mga Moro ang kumagat ng pizza na hindi kanila. Sila po ang kinakagatan, simula pa noong panahon ng mga Kastila. Hindi nga lang kinagat o tinikman, nilalamon pa!

Ngayon, what are the Arroyo regime’s motives for agreeing to those terms? Is it possible that those generals in the GRP panel were simply outwitted by the Moro guerillas as they have been regularly out-maneuvered in the battlefields?

No, I don’t think so. For one, I give the GRP much credit in the area of wiliness. Mga tuso din ang mga ito. For two, the presence of the US Department of State and the World Bank in the signing ceremonies yesterday in Malaysia point otherwise. I count on the imperialists to scream like banshees every time its puppet GRP did something monumentally wrong. But they were there, with US Ambassador to Manila Kirstie Kenney charming the socks out of everyone. Anong meron?

My take is on this particular issue is that the imperialists really want more action on the riches of Mindanao. They are sacrificing the GRP to afford them the chance to negotiate with the belligerent forces directly and mine the hell out of Mindanao even more. The MILF and the MNLF are the real governments on the ground in those areas anyway. Bawas pa ang tong-pats.

But I’m confident that the MILF sees through the real ruse. I doubt if the multinational corporations would find in the Bangsa Moro government the whore that the succession of Manila governments were and is—you know, welcoming imperialist interests with open arms and legs. My only worry is, if the Bangsa Moro government would act like a chaste girl in protecting its patrimony against the rapist, would not this maniac scream “Terrorist!” and send MORE troops to shoot at every Moro they see (like what General ‘Black Jack’ Pershing did more than a century before and what Bush is doing now)?

To the Inquirer cartoonist and to everyone who thinks like he does, be careful on whom you try to picture as the bad guys here—lest you betray your prejudices and thus your ignorance.

The following entry was written for Bulatlat: http://www.bulatlat.com/2007/12/amparo-opens-4-cl-camps-search-fruitless

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The search seemed fruitless. But there were disturbing clues that corroborate testimonies given by escaped abductees.

BY RAYMUND VILLANUEVA
Contributed to Bulatlat
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Vol. VII, No. 44, December 9-15, 2007

It was six o’clock and the sun was still hiding behind the eastern mountains that chilly morning of Dec. 4. The Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) office was already awake and buzzing as it prepared for a groundbreaking mission. The Court of Appeals granted the petition for the Writ of Amparo favoring families of two desaperacidos to search for them in four military camps in Central Luzon.

Mission participants cradled hot coffee mugs in their hands, hardly touching the pan de sal before them. Mission head, Fr Dionito M. Cabillas, IFI, handed out copies of the court order to members of the team. Last minute instructions were given before the participants piled into two vehicles bound for the main Commission on Human Rights office in Quezon City.

Landmark court order

The Fifth Division of the Court of Appeals granted last Nov. 23 the petition of Leny and Lolita Robiños for the writ of amparo ordering respondents President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes C. Esperon Jr. and Philippine National Police director general Avelino Razon, among others, “…to desist or refrain from approaching, communicating or committing any act which would threaten or violate the(ir) right to life and security…” In the order numbered CC-G.R. WRA No. 00004, the Appelate Court also ordered inspection of the detention cells, offices and areas of the Philippine Army’s 69th Infantry Battallion in Mexico, Pampanga and Bamban, Tarlac as well as the unit’s “mother” 7th Infantry Division in Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija.  It also allowed the inspection of the 24th Infantry Battalion detention centers in Limay, Bataan.

The CA found meritorious the statements, supporting documents and testimonies of the petitioners in their appeal for a temporary protection order, inspection order and production order for Romulos Robiños and Ryan Supan. Four armed men wearing military uniforms forcibly took the two from the Robiños house in Barangay (village) Tabon, Angeles City in Pampanga midnight of Nov. 17, 2006. Lolita believed that their attackers were members of the Philippine Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion and were actually looking for her daughter Leny. When they could not find Leny, the men ordered Lolita to knock on Romulos’ house next door and asked for Leny. The men then took Romulos and Ryan who was sleeping over for the night. Before the men left, Lolita was pulled aside, patted on her head and was told: “Sabihin mo sa anak mo na tigilan na ‘yan.” (Tell your daughter to stop what she is doing.) Leny is an organizer of Aguman Da Reng Maglalautang Capampangan (AMC or Alliance of Kapampangan Farmers), the provincial chapter of the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines).

On the part of the respondents, the Office of the Solicitor-General denied that both the PNP and AFP had any knowledge, participation and responsibility for the abduction of Romulos and Ryan. General Esperon even claimed in his Affidavit of November 13, 2007 that he ordered an investigation by “concerned units.”  The PNP also testified to conducting “an initial investigation.”

The CA found that the steps or measures taken by both the AFP and the PNP “fall short of the extraordinary diligence in the performance of duty under the Rule(s).”  The Court said that “…the respondents cannot simply invoke the presumption that official duty has been regularly performed to evade responsibility and liability.”

“Extraordinary diligence”

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) was ordered by the Appellate Court in the same decision to “…coordinate, assist and document the inspection…” of the camps.  The CHR was also directed to “…conduct the inspection of the aforesaid premises within FIVE (5) DAYS” from receipt of the order.

But both the CHR and Karapatan received the Court’s Order only on Nov. 29, a Thursday and the eve of a long holiday. Karapatan immediately sought a dialogue with CHR the following Monday, Dec. 3.  Karapatan managed to convince CHR to still implement the order on its last day of effectivity—Dec. 4—and they agreed to visit the four camps. Meanwhile, Karapatan wrote the CA requesting for a five day extension, which was promptly granted.

Like the AFP and the PNP however, even the CHR seemed to lack “extraordinary diligence” in implementing the Order.  The Karapatan team, which included Lolita, Fe and Jun Supan—Ryan’s parents—and families of other desaperacidos, were already at the CHR office a few minutes after six.  But the CHR team was not ready; its vehicles and drivers failed to show up until it was already past nine in the morning.

The mission convoy did not reach CHR’s Region Three office in San Fernando, Pampanga until ten. By then, Director Yasmin Navarro Regino had already made plans without consulting the petitioners. She directed four teams to visit the four subject areas with her leading the CHR team visiting Fort Magsaysay. The mission dispatched in four different directions at 11 o’clock.

Despite a go-ahead from the Karapatan team, the CHR team failed to reach Laur, Nueva Ecija until two o’clock. By then, the families of the disappeared were already questioning the CHR’s obvious lack of enthusiasm. “Y’ung aming seguridad, hindi nila napoprotektahan.  Ine-expect namin nakabuntot sila, naka-convoy.  Pero hindi, kanya-kanya” (They didn’t protect our security. We expected them to follow us in a convoy. But no, they left us on our own), Lolita said.

Even in “inspecting” the detention cells, the CHR was at best, perfunctory.  Director Regino was swift in her resignation that the CA order was “limiting to very specific parts of the subject area.” The CHR group also kept to themselves during the tour and hardly assisted the families. “Pinabayaan kami.  Parang hindi kami binigyan ng proteksyon.  Basta bahala na lang kami” (They neglected us. It was as if we had no protection. It was up to us), Lolita added.

“Ryan, anak, ‘and’yan ka ba?”

Notified five days before the inspection, the 7th ID was given sufficient time to prepare for the visit. Division chief of staff Col Leonido Bongcawil managed to clown and joke around. He took the team to the brig for soldiers with pending administrative and criminal cases. But he refused to show the team the brig’s 2006 logbook. Bongcawil also took the inspection team to a motorized tour of the camp facilities, except for the Special Operations Command camp, which he said was “off limits.”

In Fort Magsaysay’s old hospital, however, the team insisted on walking around the abandoned premises. The families entered every room and inspected every nook and cranny. Fe Supan, Ryan’s mother kept calling for her son, shouting, “Ryan, si nanay ito!  Sumagot ka kung ‘and’yan ka” (Ryan, son, this is your mother. Answer back if you’re there). Lolita joined in a few minutes later. Only the blank walls replied with echoes of their cries.

The search seemed fruitless. But there were disturbing clues that corroborate testimonies given by escaped abductees. In an empty hall inside the old hospital, the team saw a steel pot with leftover rice.  They also saw paper targets riddled with bullets that had familiar faces drawn on them. At the edge of the camp’s airport runway, the team talked to some farmers who confirmed there are “safehouses” beyond a nearby clump of trees and a stream. This was clearly described by abductees who escaped from Fort Magsaysay.  When shown Ryan’s picture, one soldier said that he looked familiar but the person on the picture was introduced as a soldier-trainee.

The search goes on

The sun was about to set and the team had to go back to Manila.  Reluctantly, the families agreed it was time to go. “Except for the chance of entering the dreaded Fort Magsaysay for the first time, this inspection is disappointing,” Fr. Cabillas said.  He noted that the CHR did not ask the police to provide police escort to the group and they did not insist in inspecting the camp papers that could have given the teams more clues for future searches and inspections.

Karapatan documentation committee coordinator Lovella de Castro was more forthright with her assessment of the CHR’s performance. “The writ of amparo is worthless if the CHR is unprepared and unwilling to perform.  They (the CHR team) are incompetent,” she said.

“Syempre, malakas ang loob ng mga sundalo na gawin tayong parang turista sa loob ng kampo. Mahaba ang panahon nila na ilipat ang aming mga anak” (Of course, are daring enough to have us go around like tourists. They had a long-enough time to transfer our children), Lolita said.

The team found out later that the CHR teams that visited Bataan, Pampanga and Tarlac came back with a negative report. They said the camps listed in the order no longer existed.

The CHR also denied the petitioner’s request to inspect the camps, as provided by the later CA Order.  The Commission simply said they cannot decide on more visits until its San Fernando office submits its report.

“Parang wala silang pagpapahalaga sa buhay ng aming mga anak, sa aming paghihinagpis na naghahanap ng aming mga nawawala” (It’s as though they care nothing about our childrens’ lives, about our grief while searching for our missing loved ones), Lolita said. Contributed to Bulatlat